April 2026
Rodney Ackland’s acclaimed adaptation of Hugh Walpole’s novel The Old Ladies returned to the London stage for the first time in over 30 years in March. It opened at the Finborough Theatre in West London on Tuesday 24 March 2026, for a limited four-week. The production was presented by Walpole Society member Andrew Maunder and Neil McPherson for the Finborough Theatre.
The production received some excellent reviews:
The Old Ladies review – spite, greed and nerves in a rickety boarding house – The Guardian
The Old Ladies, Finborough Theatre review – sound, but not quite creepy enough
The Old Ladies – Finborough Theatre | Review – LondonTheatre1“The Old Ladies” by Rodney Ackland at Finborough Theatre
The Old Ladies ★★★★ Finborough Theatre | Mar 24 – Apr 19, 2026
REVIEW: The Old Ladies, Finborough Theatre (2026) – TheatreVibe
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March 2026
Members of the Society gathered in the churchyard of St John’s, Keswick on Thursday 19 March 2026 to unveil a new sign directing visitors to Hugh Walpole’s grave.
The unveiling followed the 11 o’clock said Eucharist service in the church which included words of thanksgiving for the life and works of Hugh Walpole.
After lunch we visited Keswick Museum where the curators had put on display a large number of items from the Walpole Collection which are no longer on public display.
The unveiling of the new grave sign was covered extensively by the local print media and also by Border Television’s Six O’Clock News: Celebrated novelist honoured at his final resting place – Latest From ITV News
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December 2025
Following the success of Red Amber and Other Stories, the Society has published a second collection of Walpole short stories taken from his contributions to British and US magazines of the 1920s and ’30s. The book, titled Gifts for My Friends and Other Stories, is now available.
To order a copy, email HughWalpoleSociety@gmail.com.
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On Saturday 24 May 2025 the Society visited Durham School where Hugh Walpole was a pupil from 1898 to 1903. This was followed by a tour of locations in Durham with Walpole connections. Our visit was arranged by Durham College Archivist and Librarian George Gardner, to whom many thanks.
March 2025
On Saturday 8 March 2025 the Society visited Epsom College, the school where Hugh Walpole was a schoolmaster in 1908. His experiences during his time there inspired his novel Mr Perrin and Mr Traill, published a couple of years later. We saw the settings of the novel, the surviving records from Walpole’s time at the college, and, most importantly, the celebrated hat and umbrella stand that gave rise to the central episode of the novel. Our visit was arranged by Epsom College Archivist and Society member Rebecca Worthy, to whom we are most grateful.
November 2023
The Society has just published its first book – Red Amber and Other Stories.